


Live

by aldersprig



Series: Living [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: End Game Spoilers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 01:58:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18681814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aldersprig/pseuds/aldersprig
Summary: Set after the end of End Game.❧There are always loose ends.  Sometimes they tie themselves up.





	Live

Well, that was it then.  It had taken Steve a while, but he'd gotten the girl.  Bucky smiled, but the taste in his mouth was ashes.

He didn't need to look after the kid anymore.   It was time to rest, time to stop fighting. He turned to walk away.  Pepper — no. Bruce would know who could find him a flight.

A hand landed hard on his shoulder.  For a moment, for a heartbeat, he hoped.

That hand was too small, too dark, wasn't Steve at all.

“Hey, punk, where do you think you're going?”

The voice wasn't Steve either.   But something about the tone —

“Wakanda.” He didn't think he needed to explain why.   

“Wakanda? You miss your goats?”

Apparently, he _did_ need to explain.

“Shuri has a cryo tube for me.  I can sleep — until there's another nutjob or aliens or nutjob aliens.”

“Sorry, bud, not gonna happen.” Sam draped his arm around Bucky's shoulders.  “And I've got three — four — reasons why.”

 _We're not friends,_ Bucky wanted to say, but that wasn't, it wasn't _quite_ true anymore.  Not like Steve and he had been, no, but nobody could be that.  More like the Commandos.

“Yeah?” he said instead, challenge and invitation and maybe something like hope.

“Okay, one, I’ve got this thing,” he hoisted the shield up.  “And you and I both know, look, I can fight, sure, but I’m not Steve.  I’m not the one that can pick up that damn hammer of Thor’s. I need someone to help me do this right, and nobody knows that like you.”

Bucky raised his eyebrows.  “The assassin.”

“Steve’s best friend,” Sam came back, no hesitation.  He was ready for that one.

“Two?”

“Two, okay, I’m not Steve—”

“You said that already.”

“I’m not a _supersoldier_.  I’m gonna need back-up.  I’m gonna need muscle. And I’m pararescue, I’m not a strategist.  I’m gonna need your brains.”

Bucky felt something that ought to be a smile but isn't on his lips.  “Think they froze that part.”

“Then you’re just gonna have to thaw it out,” Sam snapped, and this time he was definitely not taking any excuses.

“Three?”  It’s all Bucky could think to say.  He could feel Shuri’s cyro tube slipping further away, and he couldn't decide if he minded or not.

“Three.”  He grinned this time, and Bucky knew he had stepped right into it.  He hoisted the shield again. “We all know Captain America needs a Bucky.  It’s just the way the world goes, man.”

Bucky found himself being hugged.  He thumped Sam’s back and wondered, briefly, a flicker in the parts of his brain that had never thawed correctly, how he ended up here, but it’s not a complaint.  It’s more of a marvel.

His mouth was dry all of a sudden.  It was work, hard work, to force out the next word.

“Four?” he managed.

“Four.”  Sam’s smile was gone and his voice went solemn.  He held Bucky’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Four. We both loved Steve — love — and we just watched him age sixty-some years overnight.  Nobody else is gonna get it, hell, I don’t pretend to really get it, but I’m the closest you got. Don’t drink alone, don’t mourn alone, don’t fly alone.”

Sam made it sound like a mantra.  Bucky found himself unable to say anything at all, so he nodded. Nodding -- nodding seemed to cover it.

“Great.”  Sam draped his arm around Bucky’s shoulders.  “Come on. I’ve got a place, plenty big enough, lots of roof.  No goats, though. Think you can live?”

Bucky still couldn’t talk, but he nodded again.  Yeah. He scooted his arm — his meat arm — around Sam’s back.  He thought, maybe, he could live.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my friends!  
> I am going to try something for the first week of May.  
> For any fanfic of mine on which I am the sole creator,  
> for every substantive comment I receive, I will open that doc and write 200-300 more words of that fic.  
> Once I get a chapter written (or in some cases, a sequel), I’ll post it.
> 
> (Also anything on my blog, lynthornealder.com)
> 
> For this ‘fic, that’s probably about 500-750 words or 2-3 comments.


End file.
